Page 64 of Never Gonna Happen

Adam gave a hollow laugh. ‘Me, grow up? I’m the one who went out and built my own business. Your other son is still playing My Little Pony.’

‘He’s hands-on with the estate, Adam. Something you’ve never been interested in.’

‘You’ve never offered,’ said Adam huffily.

‘Because you’d have to do some work,’ said Mr Hunter impatiently. ‘Planning, maintenance, liaising with tenants and staff, being respectful to people. I’m not sure it plays to your strengths, to be honest.’

Adam said nothing for a few seconds. Emily could hear the cogs in his brain whirring from six thousand miles away and wondered what evil scheme he was plotting. ‘I need to go,’ he said briskly.

‘Fine. Give my love to Victoria and the boys.’

The line went dead, so Emily quickly tiptoed to the other end of the corridor, trying to organise her thoughts. Adam calling her names was nothing new, but it was clear that he’d moved into a new phase of actively trying to get her fired, apparently just out of pure spite.

She gave it a couple of minutes, then noisily opened and closed the front door and walked back to Mr Hunter’s office. He was leaning over his desk, deep in thought with a face like thunder.

‘Is now a bad time?’ she asked.

‘Emily, you’re back,’ he said with a warm smile. ‘Of course not. Come on in. Where’s James?’

‘At the garage with the car, it’s got a weird rattle. We’ve just got back.’

Mr Hunter smiled. ‘Then let’s ask Madeleine for lunch on the terrace when he gets back, so you can both tell me all about it.’

Jamie arrived back in the Jimny, mysterious rattle fixed, and Madeleine served a delicious crab salad with a huge plate of fruit, which they all piled into while Emily and Jamie shared their experience of the Lapis Lagoon Hotel. Mr Hunter asked lots of questions about the staff and the facilities and the food, and they told him all about the activities they’d signed up for. Jamie had a few suggestions for small improvements, but Mr Hunter seemed encouraged by the positive review.

‘Thank you both, that’s very helpful,’ he said, dabbing his mouth with a linen napkin. ‘I’ll revisit the financials and make my decision. Emily, I wonder if I can borrow you for a few hours this afternoon? I have some contracts that could do with your eye for detail.’

‘No problem,’ she said, standing up. ‘I’ll go and get my stuff.’ She picked up her plate and glass, unable to let go of the habit of clearing up after herself. Jamie gave the tiniest smile, so she put them back down again. However hard she tried, Emily couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable with somebody being paid to wash her dirty dishes.

‘James, what are your plans?’ asked Mr Hunter.

‘I might head south on the paddle board,’ said Jamie, looking through the trees to the beach beyond. ‘The weather’s due to pick up later so now would be a good time.’ He stood up and gave Emily a chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you both later.’

‘We’ll go to Sam’s for dinner at six,’ said Mr Hunter. ‘Jessie has some new specials she wants us all to try; she’ll keep us a table inside if bad weather comes in.’

Jamie nodded and waved, then headed down the path towards the beach, and Emily hurried to her room so she could change into a dress. She watched him from the window for a minute as he pulled a red and white paddle board out of a shed and checked it over, then she grabbed her notebook and pen and laptop.

She found Mr Hunter back in his office, looking troubled and preoccupied. It wasn’t hard to guess why, but Emily didn’t ask. They worked through a pile of contracts over the course of the afternoon, closing all the windows in the office when the rain started to hammer down just after 4 p.m. Half an hour later Emily finished her work and went to sit under the cover of the terrace to wait for Jamie, watching the trees bend double in the wind and leaves scatter all over the garden. Presumably he’d ended up a fair distance from the beach house and was now having to carry the paddle board back, no doubt soaked and grumpy.

By 5.30 p.m. the rain had stopped and Emily was officially worried. Jamie had been gone for hours, and there was no way he would still be out on the water. He could have taken shelter somewhere, but he knew they were due to leave for dinner soon. Surely he would have called? She walked to the headland at the end of the beach, but it was deserted.

When she got back, Mr Hunter was waiting on the terrace. ‘No sign of James?’ he asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

‘No,’ said Emily. ‘I’m assuming he was caught out by the storm, but it seems weird that he hasn’t called. Do you have any idea where he might be?’

Mr Hunter was silent for a moment, his lips clamped together and his eyes fearful and distant. ‘I have no idea,’ he said quietly. ‘But it’s nowhere good.’

Chapter Thirty-One

‘Let’s think about it rationally,’ said Emily, trying to get a hold on Mr Hunter before he drifted off to a very dark place. ‘Could he have got chatting to some locals and lost track of time?’

Mr Hunter considered the possibility. ‘If he did, it would be at Sam’s Café,’ he said. ‘Maybe he paddled there and thought we were meeting him for dinner?’

‘You should call Jessie,’ said Emily, following him to his office. It sounded like an unlikely theory, but she didn’t have any better suggestions and the alternative didn’t bear thinking about. A knot of anxiety flickered in her stomach – Jamie wasn’t the type not to message if he changed his plans.

Mr Hunter put his desk phone on speaker and called Jessie’s number. She answered after a few rings.

‘Jessie, it’s Charles Hunter. I’m here with Emily.’